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Stricken Labor must try fresh tack, says Hawke
Exclusive Steve PennellsThe West Australian
Fri, 10 February 2012 4:50AM
Former prime minister Bob Hawke has warned that the Labor Party in WA has lost the support of voters and must do more than trot out old policies and attitudes that no longer connect with an increasingly conservative electorate.
His blunt assessment came as former Labor premiers Geoff Gallop and Peter Dowding said the current ALP slump was more than just a cyclical low.
They said the party had been crippled by malaise and was beholden to "factional warlords".
Dr Gallop, who was premier from 2001 to 2006, said the public would not just be asking questions about who new Opposition Leader Mark McGowan was.
"They're also looking at the Labor Party," he said.
"How is it run? Who's running the show? Who pulls the strings?
"How do they pull the strings? What's their view of the world? And it ain't a pretty picture.
"What I'd hate to see happen is that you've got a really good, young, enthusiastic leader with political savvy who gets dragged down by that sort of thing."
The three former leaders were speaking on the challenges faced by Mr McGowan at a time Labor's primary vote is in freefall.
They said the party was on the nose across the country and had deep-rooted problems in its culture and structure.
A Westpoll last month revealed voter support for the ALP in WA was at an all-time low, with Labor's primary vote at 29 per cent compared with the Barnett Government's 54 per cent.
Dr Gallop said the Greens were growing in strength and people who used to be in the Labor Party - or would have been - were no longer in it, sapping the party of ideas and energy.
"There's a loss of what we might call working-class members and a loss of middle-class members," he said.
"So the Labor Party, as an institution I think, is now an issue," he said.
Mr Hawke, 82, whom Mr McGowan has named as one of his heroes, said there was no doubt it was "a bad time of the cycle for Labor" and any leader needed a fresh approach to engage the electorate.
"You're going to have to make sure that you just don't trot out policies or attitudes which may have been relevant in the past but just don't have much relevance at the moment," he said.
Dr Gallop said he believed the problems were deeper and Mr McGowan's challenge would be to develop a new agenda, manage the caucus and the party structure.
"I'm just not sure whether that will be enough to break the back of what is emerging as quite a conservative Australia with the Labor Party on a pretty low primary vote," he said.
Mr Dowding, who was premier from 1988 to 1990, said about one-third of current MPs were chosen to do the bidding of "factional warlords" and Labor needed to claw back the vision and initiatives it used to be have.
"The last period has been really boring and unimaginative," he said.
"I don't know what Alan Carpenter was about and Eric Ripper has just been appalling."
"The malaise of the party has allowed the factional warlords to essentially take control of the input of parliamentarians so that there is no encouragement for people with energy and bright ideas to take a seat.
"The route into the Parliament has been to appease the factional warlords, not to be a person of ideas and energy."
He accused factional bosses Joe Bullock and Dave Kelly, who has put up his hand for a safe Labor seat at the next election, of not being interested in policy.
"They just want as many people as possible supporting their view in the Parliament," he said. <div class="endnote">
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